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During a federal hearing today, Associated General Contractors of America lawyers said the California Air Resources Board overestimated emissions from off-road diesel construction equipment by at least 340 percent in its 2007 proposal for an off-road diesel emissions rule.
That would have been a costly miscalculation for construction employers, the AGC says. However, CARB heeded the AGC's advice and made a series of changes to the proposed emissions measure that the AGC estimates could save construction employers $9 billion.
The initial miscalculation was one among several "significant errors" in the CARB emissions measure the AGC testified to discovering. During testimony to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, AGC lawyers outlined the changes to the measure and their potential impacts as the EPA decides whether or not to grant California's request to begin enforcing the emissions standards starting Jan. 1, 2014.
"Once we pointed out their initial errors, California officials made a good faith effort to modify their proposal to protect both the environment and the construction industry," said Mike Kennedy, the AGC's general counsel. "While we are not prepared to support California's request [for federal approval], we do believe the state's request can be fairly submitted."
Kennedy noted that as a result of the changes, California officials estimate the revised rule will cost 70 percent less than the original version, which was estimated at $13 billion. If the state's estimate is accurate, then California's contractors can expect to save as much as $9 billion, he added.
Among the several "major modifications" CARB officials made to the measure were CARB's agreement to delay the rule by four years, dramatically reduce the amount of construction equipment they would require firms to replace each year, expand "early action" credits contractors could earn and expanded exemptions for "low-use" vehicles.
He cautioned that even with the significant changes, the measure still comes at a bad time for hard-hit construction employers. He cited evidence, for example, that contractor defaults will be higher in 2012 than in any of the previous three years.


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- Homepage
- Ferramentas
- eContentor
eContainer is the tool which enables easy access to search for empty delivery locations. By using eContainer, available 24/7 for your convenience, you will have no need to contact a local ZIM office, saving you time and procedures. The eContainer application will advise where to return an empty container in a given metropolitan location. It will also provide a re-delivery number should the container be an off-hire or one way.
Thanks for your cooperation!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
February 27, 2013 Stephen Lendman |
Profile of Imperial Lawlessness by Stephen Lendman Israel is second only to America in imperial lawlessness. Both nations partner in high crimes too grave to ignore. Neither admits fault. One conflict leads to others. Both nations are modern-day Spartas. They live by the sword. Perhaps one day they'll perish by it. Humanity may not last that long. State terror is official policy. Palestinians suffered for decades. Professor Yehuda Bauer is Hebrew University's Institute of Contemporary Jewry Professor Emeritus. He's a holocaust scholar. He studied genocide for decades. He prioritizes ways to stop it. He boycotts Yad Vashem ceremonies. He does so on the eve of Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Day. He calls juxtaposing "heroes" and "martyrs" "foolish." He can't bear vapid speeches. They're "void of content and packed with cliches." What does "Never again" mean, he asks? It's an "empty slogan." It belies the fact that holocausts repeat. He deplores messianic hard-right rabbis. They incite mass murder. They're "potentially responsible for genocide." They advocate killing non-Jews and Israeli opponents. They desecrate the meaning of "Thou shalt not kill." They claim it only applies to one Jew killing another. They're "heretics," They believe murdering Muslims and Christians is OK. Religious extremism is dangerous. More harm has been done in the name of religion than much else. "Beware those who believe in the coming of the messiah," says Bauer. Zionism betrays its roots "when it doesn't treat (its) non-Jewish minority equally." At his age, he calls himself "a dinosaur." He says Netanyahu doesn't know history. For sure he doesn't know or care about rule of law principles. He's an ideologue, says Bauer. He believe Jews should rule greater Israel. He uses anti-Semitic rhetoric "demagogically." Bauer deplores "fascist-religious-messianic settlers." They're unrestrained. They "burn mosques, cut down trees, and attack Palestinians." They do so with impunity. He hopes Israel will change. "There are good people here," he says. They're "sensitive to the suffering of others." Perhaps they'll turn things around. It's "worth living" for, he adds. He identifies with this type thinking. In April, he turns 87. He's still active. He's outraged by Israel's attitude toward persecuted Africans. They fled to Israel for safe haven. They're treated like criminals. In May 2011, Bauer joined others. They signed a "declaration of independence from the occupation." They called for Israel to recognize Palestinian self-determination. He fears for Israel's future. Right wing extremism threatens it. He supports a "democratic state within the 1967 boundaries, with certain territorial exchanges, will be a Zionist Jewish state that is obliged not only to make peace with its Palestinian and Arab neighbors, but offers the possibility for national-cultural development and full equal rights to the Arab minority living in the State of Israel." "The settlement policy is working against us and endangering us. We have to remove the majority of the settlers from the territories, which are actually areas of the State of Palestine." "The only way to remove the settlers…is by means of pressure that will be exerted on Israel by the major powers which have no interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." "An agreement between the United States and the European Union and Russia, with China's involvement, could create a situation in which pressure will be applied to both sides in the conflict to engage in serious negotiations until white smoke emerges." "Both sides are extremely susceptible to pressure. It would be enough if the EU were to discover that it has problems of financial liquidity and announce that it will have difficulty paying the salaries of the officials in the PA or in Gaza; or for the Pentagon to announce that it has a problem supplying spare parts to the Israel Air Force." "If so, within eight months the Air Force's planes and equipment turn into junk. It makes no difference whether there are 30 or 40 settler outposts at this moment." "The instant it is decided to stop financing the settlements, that story will come to a swift end." Continuing it he believes may result in Masada 2.0. Israel "isolated in the face of the world is liable to stir an extreme nationalist reaction and a posture of 'Let me die with the Philistines.' " "Our situation today recalls what happened in the Roman period, in the military revolt and confrontation against the 'United States' of that period." "So, maybe we are not talking about a possible military clash with America, but about total isolation, sanctions and starvation, which could lead to extreme reactions deriving from pessimism and despair." He thinks a binational state for all its people won't work. Trying "would mean permanent civil war and mutual killing." Settlements and right-wing extremism erased the original Zionist dream. Minority Israeli Arabs deserve "national-cultural autonomy." There's no reason they "should be compelled to sing 'With eyes toward Zion (in Israel's national anthem) and hoist the blue-and-white flag." "As far as I am concerned, there is no problem with a Palestinian flag flying alongside the Israeli" one in every Arab community. Bauer favors joint textbooks. Arabs and Jews should learn about each other. Doing so substitutes truth for myths. Understanding can replace longterm hostility. He believes in "liv(ing) the moment without ignoring either the past or the future, and to take things factually and realistically." He's appalled at how Israel treats Palestinians. Millions of others share his view. They're treated like subhumans. They're targeted and persecuted. They're locked in gulag hell. They languish there for wanting to live free. Samer Easawi's been hunger striking for justice. He hasn't ingested food for over 200 days. In October 2011, he was released with others in exchange for Gilat Shalit. In July 2012, he was rearrested. He's lawlessly held uncharged. He's one of thousands of Palestinian political prisoners. He had his day in court. Injustice continued. He was sentenced to eight months imprisonment. It begins from his day of arrest. He has another month to serve. He should have been released immediately. He should be compensated for his ordeal. He vows to keep hunger striking. He may not survive another 30 days. Who knows if Israel will release him? He's yet to face its military committee. It can arbitrarily give him another 20 years. It won't surprise if it does. Israel wants Samer held longterm. Netanyahu and previous prime ministers violated lower and High Court rulings. They do what they wish. They do so with impunity. Samer's life hangs in the balance. He's been brutally treated in prison. He's been tortured and psychologically abused. He's been isolated and denied counsel at times. He's been pressured to confess to crimes he didn't commit and implicate others. Hundreds of Palestinians rallied supportively. They did so for him and three other longterm hunger strikers. Israeli security forces attacked them violently. Many were injured. Journalists were assaulted. Dozens of Palestinian ones languish in Israeli custody. Samer's family faces harassment. Israel does it repeatedly. On December 18, 2012, Israeli forces arrested his sister, Shirin. She was held 24 hours. She was sentenced to 10 days house arrest. She was prevented from attending Samer's hearings for six months. On January 1, 2013, Israel demolished Ra'fat Samer's home. He's Samer's older brother. They did so claiming he had no building permit. On February 16, Israeli soldiers raided Tareq Samer's home. They did so pre-dawn. He's Samer's father. He was pressured to bring soldiers to Mid'hat's house. He's Samer's brother and Tareq's son. He was arrested and imprisoned. Shadi was brutalized and arrested at the time. He's Tareq's other son. He's still held. He's prohibited from seeing counsel and family members. Thousands of other Palestinians get similar treatment. Doing so violates international law. It's official Israeli policy. It's longstanding. Wanting to live free is criminalized. Rogue states operate that way. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour |


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If Israeli leaders' bluster about Iran is, as it looks to many, a bluff aimed at pressuring the U.S., the next natural question is: What does Bibi Netanyahu want from Obama? At least one answer seems abundantly clear: "red lines." Another ask—and an altogether more daunting one—may have slipped out in an interview with Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, a Netanyahu ally.
In an Israeli television interview, Steinitz said Netanyahu's position was that the international community "should set an ultimatum with a timeline" for Iran. The deadline he calls for presumably refers to demands that Iran comply with a handful of U.N. resolutions calling for suspension of its nuclear enrichment and accounting of alleged past weapons work, or else...
The threat of a deadline is new."Until today I have not heard of anyone in the Israeli government, especially someone as close to Netanyahu as Steinitz to call for the western world to give clear deadlines with dates to Iran," wrote Iranian-Israeli analyst Meir Javedanfar on his blog. "Steinitz was so adamant that he was almost shouting this point across during his interview with Israel's Channel 2."
Javedanfar's probably right that it won't happen. It's nonetheless a bit of extra pressure on the U.S., perhaps a result of Netanyahu's weakening position. Even heretofore hawkish Defense Minister Ehud Barak might be wavering on whether a strike is a good idea or not, and some of Netanyahu's security cabinet were reportedly nonplussed by a recent U.N. report on Iran's program. (The leaks caused Netanyahu to abruptly cancel a subsequent meeting with the group.)
The IAEA report still, wrote Judi Rudoren and David Sanger in the New York Times, "puts Israel in a box" by "forc(ing) Israel to strike Iran or concede it is not prepared to act on its own." By coming out and making public asks of the U.S., Israel seems to have chosen the latter.
Steinitz's comments came almost a week after Netanyahu's most recent public demand—to his cabinet, but in English—for a "clear red line" on Iran's program. That request was aimed at the international community, but the real recipient was the U.S., as evinced by a Times story about Obama considering saying what, exactly, would spur a U.S. attack to placate Israel.
The incessant demands for a red line seem redundant. Obama and officials from his administration have said time and again that Iran making moves toward actual actually producing nuclear weapons would be "unacceptable." But actually, Netanyahu and his stateside allies have long sought to make the red line an Iranian nuclear weapons "capability"—a term without a consistent definition, but generally meaning the ability, but not actual moves, to kick up nuclear enrichment rates and use the fissile material to construct a viable weapon.
A deadline is a different matter. Imposing one would shatter the delicate status quo, what Blake Hounshell called a "tacit agreement" that "Iran does not cross any red lines, and we do not bomb." So, who's putting whom in a box?


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The global market for business IT continuity and disaster data recovery solutions will grow from $24.3 billion in 2009 to exceed $39 billion in 2015, according to ABI Research.
Natural or man-made emergencies can shut down computers and servers and can make offices (and entire buildings) uninhabitable or unsafe for extended periods.
To compensate for the unexpected and account for the unpreventable, prudent organizations utilize business continuity products and services plans to keep their enterprises up and running in emergencies, and implement disaster recovery plans and programs against the possibility that a computer, server, office or entire building becomes unusable as a result of a catastrophe.
"As a result of their growing reliance on electronic data and the need for backup, storage and security, US industries such as financial services and healthcare now operate under federal mandates requiring them to have disaster recovery and business continuity programs in place," says ABI Research director Larry Fisher.
"In many other industries, such programs are not legally required, but savvy companies always prepare for the worst."Fisher notes that business continuity and disaster recovery technologies are becoming less expensive and easier to use, in part because they are being integrated into larger IT systems, and also because they're increasingly taking advantage of aspects of Cloud Computing and virtualization.
Even so, he notes: "Vendors will need to keep their offerings as simple as possible, and to provide customers the broadest possible response, in order to minimize the complexity that could challenge increased acceptance of these technologies."


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Clark Weaver slumped in his chair, weary after a full day treading the marble hallways of Congress with fellow climate researchers. Climate Science Day is not a junket for the atmospheric scientist who works as a contract employee at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; it is more like science version of speed—dating. Going from office to office, the best hope was that 20 minutes with a staffer might be the start of an ongoing science-based relationship.
On the last meeting of the day, Weaver hit the jackpot: a meeting with a legislative aide to U.S. Senator Jon Tester, the moderate Democrat who represents Montana.
"We started from scratch and she wanted to know glacial cycles, rate of deforesting, solar variability—all of the issues that could impact climate and why I think that humans are the main driver of climate change," he explained afterward at a debriefing with colleagues at a pub on Capitol Hill. "She was very interested and very sharp, as every staffer that I've ever met on the Hill has been. And before I knew it, it was an hour and a half later."
Weaver was one of about 30 scientists who came to Washington, D.C., for the second annual Climate Science Day, a joint effort of a an intersociety Climate Science Working Group comprised of a dozen scientific professional societies and research organizations, including AAAS. The Washington-based staffs of those co-sponsors joined the scientists in meetings with lawmakers on 1 February.
The purpose of the visits was to provide a non-partisan opportunity for scientists of many disciplines to build relationships and provide members of Congress access to the best possible climate science information. The focus was not on pressing for a particular policy or funding level, but on building relationships.
"It is important for scientists to be engaged, but also to be a good resource," said Joanne Carney, director of the AAAS Office of Government Relations. "Part of being a good scientist and interacting with Congress is helping policymakers do their job well by being an objective resource and providing scientific information that they might then use in policy decisions."
The day on Capitol Hill also included a briefing by Columbia University's Earth Institute, before a packed hearing room of some 75 Congressional staffers and others. U.S. Representative Eliot Engel (D-New York) sponsored the briefing; it was chaired by Art Lerner-Lam, interim director of the Lamont Doherty Observatory. Earth Institute scientists Lisa Goddard, Mingfang Ting, and Richard Seager delivered presentations on the nature of climate science.
Hongyan Luo, a biometeorologist with the National Ecological Observatory Network in Boulder, Colorado, met with U.S. Senator Michael F. Bennet (D-Colorado) during the second annual Climate Science Day organized by AAAS and other science groups. | Photo © Hongyan Luo
That context for the Capitol Hill meetings was set a day earlier, during a training session at AAAS.
"Part of the challenge is to put a face with a scientist" and begin to establish relationships so that congressional offices are willing to come to you with questions, Steve Pierson, director of science policy with the American Statistical Association, told the researchers.
"Trust is your most important asset, not your expertise," added Edward Maibach, director of the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University.
Maibach spoke of how word choice can have a subtle influence on communications. For many Republicans, "'global warming' and 'human-induced' are one idea, whereas 'climate change' and 'human—induced' are two ideas. It is easier for Republicans to acknowledge climate change," while they see global warming as a more loaded term with broader implications.
Maibach urged the scientists to take a carefully considered approach to their meetings, beginning "by finding a place of shared value." They should listen more than speak, he added, and they should ditch the jargon and speak in plain language. That's not dumbing down the science, he said; rather, the challenge is to explain things clearly.
The training session also featured a bipartisan panel of staffers drawn from the House and Senate who offered an insider's view of congressional dynamics.
Thus prepared, the scientists set off the next day for their scheduled meetings, some as early as 8:15 a.m. And in many cases, the meetings defied their expectations.
"We visited six or seven offices," said first-time participant Hongyan Luo, a biometeorologist with the National Ecological Observatory Network in Boulder, Colorado. "They were very positive and supportive of talking, and had a level of knowledge of climate change that I didn't quite expect. Actually, I didn't know quite what to expect."
Among the stops was an open "Colorado coffee" hosted by Senator Michael F. Bennet (D-Colorado) in his office, where Luo and another scientist in the delegation were able to ask the senator questions. Climate Science Day is "a great opportunity," she said. "It provides a bridge between scientists and politicians so they can have a conversation face-to-face to help communications."
Steven Cavallo is new to the School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, fresh from a postdoc in polar weather at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. He's also new to interacting with elected officials, and he'd been apprehensive about scheduled meetings with the Oklahoma congressional delegation, which is all-Republican and strongly conservative.
Twenty-four hours later, the apprehension had disappeared.
"It was fun—it was definitely worth it," Cavallo said. "Their stance on climate change is that they are skeptical. They brought up that they are skeptical of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports and of any model projections of climate change. But we were not there to debate whether global warming was occurring. It was just a friendly discussion."
Oklahoma has been battered by extreme weather events in recent years and much of the discussion focused on adaptation toward maximizing benefits and minimizing losses for the state. "They were appreciative of the fact that we were not there for any specific legislative agenda or funding," Cavallo said. "We were just there to open up the discussion, establish a relationship with them."
Peter Craigmile, an associate professor of statistics at The Ohio State University, seconded the importance of localizing conversations with Congress. "People certainly were interested to hear about climate issues and interested in thinking locally," he explained. "The one thing that we were trying to do is get people thinking about local impact. We know that every part of the U.S. is a bit different in terms of how we see the climate changing. Being able to adapt to that is really key in the future."
This is the second year that Craigmile has participated in Climate Science Day. "As an academician, education is the most important part of it," he said. "As much as we want to educate the public, it seems like the obvious place is also to educate government, and offer as much help as we can. The idea is that we are not just writing academic papers that go to a very select audience—we want to try and have as broad an impact as possible."
Noah Diffenbaugh's last meeting of the day was with U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a conservative Republican from Southern California, and it lasted an hour. Diffenbaugh said the congressman and the scientists had "a very pleasant and positive discussion about the level of scientific understanding that we have about the climate system, the institutions of science by which we conduct our day-to-day work and the peer-review process, and how public decisions are made within the context of scientific understanding.
"One of the responsibilities that we have as scientists, particularly those of us who receive public funding for our research, is to be engaged with the public about our understanding of the way that the world works and also about the limits of our understanding," said the Stanford University researcher, who holds dual appointments with the School of Environmental Earth System Science and the Woods Institute for the Environment.
"For me, the most important message that I have to communicate to Congress and to other decision-makers is that I am working as hard as I can to conduct the most objective science that I possibly can, and read the evidence as objectively as I can. None of my scientific work or communications is motivated by any particular outcome in the public arena. I'm not advocating for any particular decision. Those are the choices for our elected representatives to make."
"We want to put a more local and regional face behind scientific research, said AAAS's Carney. "These are people who are doing their research on a day-to-day basis at universities in your district. This is the type of work they are doing and they are a valuable resource."
Those are precisely the reasons why NASA Goddard's Clark Weaver has made the commitment of time and effort to keep coming back to speak with members of Congress and their staff members. "Scientists have to get out and do more of this type of outreach," Weaver said. "I wish more of my colleagues would do it."
See AAAS's extensive non-partisan resources on climate change.
Learn more about the AAAS Office of Government Relations.


text:
This is my little bit of the web. Everything here is in some way related to things that I am interested in now, or was interested in once. Some of it is possibly even interesting to you, which must be why you are reading this...
These pages are a hopefully interesting collection of various tidbits both old and new. Here you'll find some chemistry, some general geeking around and some ghosts of the web past.
Comments and praise welcome (drop me a line).
Find me on Mastodon!
Recent Changes
I am an Associate Professor in
Chemical Engineering
at the
Univesity of New South Wales.
Jan 1, 2021
Colloidal particles in competition for stabilizer: a solvent relaxation NMR study of polymer adsorption and desorption
published in Langmuir.
Dec 10, 2012
First paper from nellie, our neutron reflection confinement
Measuring the structure of thin soft matter films under confinement: a surface-force type apparatus for neutron reflection, based on a flexible membrane approach
published in Review of Scientific Instruments.
Nov 27, 2012
Last edited: Saturday September 11, 2010
Copyright © 1996-2014 Stuart Prescott


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Mashed Potato Muffins (Adapted from Canadian Living)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (can use all-purpose)
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed potatoes
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup minced green onion
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
Preheat oven to 400
In a large bowl, whisk together flours, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, oregano and pepper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, potatoes and milk. Pour into the dry ingredients - sprinkle with green onion and red pepper and stir just until combined. Evenly divide the batter between 8 wells of a 12 cup muffin tin lightly coated with nonstick spray - add a little water to the empty wells to prevent them from warping.
Bake until a toothpick placed in the center comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached, about 13 to 16 minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before turning the muffins out onto a wire rack.
Makes 8 muffins.
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text:
Sunshine, slush, ice, rain, snow … you name it, the 2013 Homer Winter Carnival had a little of everything.
It also had plenty of fun, thanks to the Homer Chamber of Commerce, the sponsorship of Alaska USA Federal Credit Union and a long list of volunteers who did everything from stopping traffic from interrupting Saturday's parade to judging parade entries.
Speaking of the parade, Homer Mayor Beth Wythe was the grand marshal. Judges Alita Mahan, Helen Phipps and Crystal Rogers selected the parade winners.
Nonprofit: Relay for Life
Family/individual: Personal Growth, a group of new Homer residents
Social club: Krewe of Gambrinus, marching for the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies;
Judges choice: Krewe Ton du' Chanceaux
Brew competition
There were 87 different entries in the 31st annual home brew competition sponsored by The Brew Shop and held Saturday at the Bidarka Inn Best Western. Winners included:
Lager wheat: Michael Lassin
Imperial pale ale: Michael Lassin
Pale ale: Jason Allmendinger
Amber: Randy Creamer
Porter: Carrie Oats
Stout: Craig Phillips
Pumpkin beer: Dan McNolty
Big beer: Joel Cooper
Cider: Ryan Lee
Mead: Rhubarb mead, Eric Swanberg
Best of show: Eric Swanberg
Ice events
It was a play day for ice-racing vehicles due to weather and conditions on Beluga Lake, according to Dean Ravin. Look for them to be on the ice this weekend, as long as the temperatures stay cool.
The Homer Cycling Club also decided to cancel races on Beluga Lake. However, plans are underway for the Big Bike Festival March 1-3. The festival kicks off Feb. 28 with a screening of "Reveal the Path" at Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center, doors opening at 6:30 p.m., film beginning at 6:30 p.m.


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The NFL has permitted teams to use Microsoft tablet computers during games this season, primarily for studying pictures taken before and after the snap.
However, Bills coach Doug Marrone was apparently without use of a tablet for at least some of Sunday's Hall of Fame Game.
After the Bills' 17-13 loss to the Giants, Marrone indicated his tablet wasn't operating in the first two quarters, per ESPN's Mike Rodak.
"I was told mine was going to work, and mine didn't work," Marrone said afterwards, according to audio from WGR 550 AM in Buffalo. "They said they would get it right, and it was miscommunication. But I was excited. I did use it in the second half, and I like it a lot," Marrone said.
With the regular season still a little more than a month away, the NFL, clubs and Microsoft have time to ensure all goes smoothly with the tablets once the regular season begins. Having four weeks of exhibition games for practice runs should aid that process.


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Shaq -- I'm RETIRING
After 19 years in the NBA, Shaquille O'Neal is officially retiring ... and he made the announcement on a video he posted through his Twitter page.
In his video, Shaq says ... "We did it. Nineteen years baby. I want to thank you very much, that's why I'm telling you first, I'm about to retire. Love you, talk to you soon."
O'Neal has too many basketball accomplishments to list on this website ... so here's a link to the time he spoke to TMZ cameras in Hebrew.


text:
The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
Stace, Arthur
Persistent URL for this entry
To cite this entry in text
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Stace, Arthur Malcolm
[media]Arthur Stace was born in Redfern in 1885, the fifth child of a labourer from Mauritius. His parents were alcoholics, and Arthur became a state ward at the age of 12. He received very little formal education and had already learnt to drink heavily by the time he started his first job at 14. His early years were spent in and out of jail and hospital, including a stay at Broughton Hall psychiatric clinic at Callan Park. He was briefly employed by the Sydney City Council, but mostly survived through underworld connections, working as a 'cockatoo' for various illegal establishments and delivering illicit grog to brothels, including one in Surry Hills run by his sister.
[media]He served in France with the 19th Battalion and returned home partially blind in one eye. Years of depression and drinking followed, with the bottle dominating his days and the courts regularly hauling him in for a variety of unacceptable behaviours.
[media]Stace attended a 'tea and rock bun' meeting on 6 August 1930 at St Barnabas, Broadway, where Archdeacon RBS Hammond was attracting large hungry audiences of down and outs. Stace was, according to legend, unexpectedly converted to Christianity, and gave up the grog forthwith. Later, he was fond of saying 'I went in to get a cup of tea and a rock cake but I met the Rock of Ages'. His life changed direction completely, and he spent his spare hours in the following years visiting other afflicted souls and preaching on street corners, at William 'Cairo' Bradley's tent missions and to anyone who would listen. He led open air meetings on the corner of George and Bathurst streets for over 20 years.
He worked for a time at one of the self-help Hammond Hotels in a converted factory in Buckland Street Chippendale, where unemployed men were fed, shaved and spruced up in order to improve their chances of finding work. Later he was employed as a janitor at the Burton Street Baptist Tabernacle in Darlinghurst, where he joined the congregation. It was here that he heard a sermon delivered by the popular evangelist, John G Ridley in November 1932. Stace was enthralled when Ridley delivered the words,
Eternity, Eternity, I wish I could sound or shout ETERNITY through the streets of Sydney ... You've got to meet it, where will you spend Eternity?
He left the service feeling 'a powerful call from the Lord', and discovering a piece of chalk in his pocket, believed he had found his purpose in life. He also claimed supernatural intervention.
The funny thing is that before I wrote it I could hardly have spelt my own name. I have no schooling and I couldn't have spelt Eternity for a hundred quid. But it came out smoothly in beautiful copperplate script. I couldn't understand it. [1]
Mystery uncovered
[media]Stace married in 1942 and lived with his wife Pearl for many years in Bulwara Road, Pyrmont. He chose to write the word in the hours before dawn when few people were around, keeping his identity a secret. Newspaper writers wrote speculative accounts and the occasional false confession helped to maintain the air of mystery that surrounded the anonymous Eternity man. Lisle Thompson, the minister of the Tabernacle eventually caught his janitor in the act. He wrote up the story in a short tract, and the Sunday Telegraph carried an article exposing the identity of the scribe on 21 June 1956.
Stace inscribed the word Eternity on Sydney's pavements more than half a million times between 1932 and 1966. In that year he went to live at the Hammondville Church of England aged people's home, where he died of a stroke on 30 July 1967. He donated his body to the University of Sydney and his remains were finally interred at the Botany Cemetery in 1969.
Stace's legacy
[media]The ghostly figure of this little man darting through the shadows to deliver his one word sermon has entered the mythology of Sydney's life. An early tract written by the Burton Street Baptist minister, Lisle Thompson has gone through various printings and is now available online. [2] A few years after his death, the poet Douglas Stewart wrote of 'that shy mysterious poet Arthur Stace, whose work was just one single mighty word'. Keith Dunstan included the story in his book Ratbags published in 1979. Artist George Gittoes incorporated a version of Stace's face in his Ancient Prayer, which won the Blake Prize for religious art in 1992 and Lawrence Johnston's film Eternity appeared in 1994. Stace's life continues to inform exhibitions and artworks and is often retold in religious tracts and sermons. Websites devoted to his story proliferate.
Jonathan Mills and Dorothy Porter's chamber opera, The Eternity Man was performed at the Sydney Festival in 2005. When Porter was asked why she thought Sydneysiders maintained such an 'enduring obsession' with Stace, she suggested that
Sydney is a waterside city, ephemeral, built from sandstone, itself almost dissolvable, unlike Melbourne's bluestone. And Sydney has a dreadful history of wiping out itself – in the 1960s especially, when everything got razed, covered over with concrete. We had a rather ruthless pro-development state government, there was corruption everywhere. So perhaps [Stace] appeals to us as a symbol of that past, that other lost Sydney and its history. [3]
Others refer to the unexpected spirituality of discovering his work juxtaposed against the hard-edged city. Artist Martin Sharp has helped to keep Stace centre stage through his own representations of the word Eternity. According to Sharp, Stace was
one of Sydney's most important writers, wasn't he? He never had a book published, but he self-published all over the streets and pavements of Sydney. He writes an entire novel in that word. [4]
Lisle M Thompson, 'The Crooked Made Straight', http://www.pastornet.net.au/stace/Power_1.htm viewed 4 October 2007
J G Ridley, The Passing of Mr Eternity, Sydney, 1967
Keith Dunstan, Ratbags, Golden Press, Sydney, 1979
Chris Cunneen, 'Stace, Arthur Malcolm (1885–1967)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol 12, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1990, pp 42–43, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120052b.htm
[1] Tom Farrell, Sunday Telegraph, 21 June 1956
[2] http://www.pastornet.net.au/stace/Power_1.htm viewed 4 October 2007
[3] Sharon Verghis, 'One word sermon we can't forget', Sydney Morning Herald, 19 January 2005
[4] Sharon Verghis, 'One word sermon we can't forget', Sydney Morning Herald, 19 January 2005


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The population census - a brief history
Early Australian censuses Australia has a history of regular population stocktakes from the time of the first British settlement in Australia. From 1788 stocktakes occurred in the form of musters and victualling lists, maintained to control food stores. In 1828 Australia's first census was held in New South Wales. From then on regular censuses were held in New South Wales and, as they were established, in the other colonies. In the mid-19th century the colonial statisticians encouraged compatibility between the colonies in their respective censuses, and in 1881 a census was held simultaneously in each of the colonies. When planning for the 1901 census it was clear that Federation was forthcoming, and a uniform census schedule was developed. Table 5.71 is a time-line of key events in the history of the ABS conductiong censuses of the population over the past 100 years.
A national census in troubled times - 1911 to 1954 The first Australian national census occurred at midnight between 2 and 3 April 1911. Tabulation was carried out almost entirely by hand, with staff sorting over 4 million cards and physically counting them for each tabulation. Results from the 1911 census took a long time to release and were further delayed by World War I. On two occasions in the first half of the 20th century, the census date itself was delayed by major events - the Depression and World War II. There were four Commonwealth censuses in the first half of the 20th century, compared with nine in the second half. The 1921 census introduced automatic machine tabulation equipment, hired from England for the census. The next Australian census was held in 1933, delayed due to the Depression. The census due to be held in the early-1940s was also delayed, until 1947, this time by World War II. The year 1954 was chosen for the fifth census as a compromise, falling between 1951 and 1961. Back on track - 1961 to 1976 The 1961 census put the 10-yearly cycle back on track and marked the Bureau's first attempt at obtaining a de jure measurement of the population (according to place of usual residence rather than place of enumeration). Five years later, the 1966 census was held, resulting in more accurate population estimates between census years. The 1960s was a time of great change in the Bureau and this was reflected in several changes to the development and processing of the census. Pilot testing of the form occurred for the first time and full family and household coding was introduced. Computers were also introduced to process data, improving data quality and increasing the range of analysis possible. In 1967 the Commonwealth held a referendum resulting in an amendment of the Constitution, removing the barrier to including Aboriginal people in the census publications. This allowed the Indigenous population to be included in the 1971 census count. For the 1971 census, the 'race' question was re-designed and methods for remote area collection examined to improve identification of Indigenous origin. The 1976 census was the largest undertaken, with 53 questions. Due to budgetary restraints, the Bureau was not able to complete normal processing of the data and a 50% sample was processed. In the 1970s there was public debate about privacy and the census. By 1976 the Treasurer had asked the Law Reform Commission to investigate and make any recommendations it thought necessary. One of the key elements under question was the inclusion of names. Excluding names was found to reduce the accuracy of the data, as individuals were more likely to leave questions blank and post-enumeration surveys would not be possible. The modern census - 1981 to 2001 New procedures to enumerate Indigenous Australians were developed in 1981, including using Indigenous enumerators and a special form for Indigenous peoples in remote areas. The Bureau also moved from using 'Head of Household' to delineate household relationships to using 'Person 1', who could be any responsible adult. In 1986 there was a change in census collection procedures with the Bureau taking over the management of New South Wales and Victoria from the Australian Electoral Commission, who had undertaken the distribution and collection of census forms for all censuses since 1921. This was so successful that the Bureau assumed responsibility for all states in subsequent censuses. Aside from a new ancestry question, there were also changes to the language spoken question allowing languages spoken in the home to be identified. A new question on family members temporarily absent allowed improvements in the coding of families. For the 1991 census, the Bureau moved the date from 30 June to 6 August in order to be clear of all possible school holiday periods. Optical mark recognition was used to capture information on the forms, reducing the data entry required. Computer assisted coding was also used, reducing the coding load and improving consistency. A two-stage release of data was introduced in 1996, with those topics that could be processed easily released first. In 2001 each person was given the opportunity to choose to have their personal details preserved for release in 99 years. Over 50% of the Australian population chose to participate in the Time Capsule Project, and on 7 August 2100 their details will become available. The 2001 census used intelligent character recognition to capture details from the form, an improvement over the technology used in 1996 and 1991 where only tick box data could be automatically captured (table 5.72).
The future of the census One key change that can be expected is the use of the Internet in the census process. This has the potential to significantly reduce costs, as well as improving the quality of the data collected. Undertaking the census via the Internet may be possible by 2006. The Census of Population and Housing seems to take on greater significance in terms of its value and uses with each iteration. As the demand for information grows within society, so does the significance of the census. In a world where information abounds and there are often several sources for similar information, there is still no source as comprehensive as a census. References Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, The First Commonwealth Census, 3rd April 1911, Notes by G.H. Knibbs, 1911 Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, Census of the Commonwealth of Australia, taken for the night between the 2nd and 3rd April 1911, Statistician's Report, 1917 The Law Reform Commission, Privacy and the Census, Report No. 12, AGPS, 1979 Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window. |


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Build 21228 has been released. Docker images available from DockerHub as usual, and bare-metal packages here.
Home Assistant up to version 2021.8.6 supported; the online version of the manual will now state the current supported versions; Fix an error in OWMWeatherController that could cause it to stop updating; Unify the approach to entity filtering on all hub interface classes (controllers); this works for device entities only; it may be extended to other entities later; Improve error detail in messages for EzloController during auth phase; Add isRuleSet() and isRuleEnabled() functions to expressions extensions; Implement set action for lock and passage capabilities (makes them more easily scriptable in some cases); Fix a place in the UI where 24-hour time was not being displayed.Noticed right away last night at closing time that the open/close had become inverted with the update to v23326.
It wasn't an awful bit of lift to change all Reactions to reflect the change but it was jarring initially when everything flipped.
Are there release notes on that version, @toggledbits ?
Installing latest-24052-d039d560 and I did a dumb thing: moving too quickly, I deleted package.json instead of package-lock.json because the latter didn't exist.
Ran the installer script - but in the wrong directory so I moved package.json manually.
Everything has come back EXCEPT for my MQTT Cloud OwnTracks entities. They're erroring because of this:
(Don't heckle my folder structure - it's run this way for three years)
reactor.yaml is fine, all MQTT configs exactly as they should be.
The folder mqtt_templates is present:
The file it says is "unreadable" is present and hasn't changed (today's date is the Changed date because I did a quick nonsense edit to see that it was not corrupted in some way).
The logs show:
[latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.320Z <ZWaveJSController:WARN> zwavejs_capabilities defines x_zwave_device_cfg, which is not consistent with the recommended naming [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.321Z <ZWaveJSController:WARN> zwavejs_capabilities defines x_zwave_mfg_spec, which is not consistent with the recommended naming [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.321Z <ZWaveJSController:WARN> zwavejs_capabilities defines x_zwave_device_ver, which is not consistent with the recommended naming [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.322Z <ZWaveJSController:WARN> zwavejs_capabilities defines x_zwave_values, which is not consistent with the recommended naming [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.323Z <Controller:INFO> ZWaveJSController#zwavejs loaded zwavejs capabilities ver 23194 rev 1 format 1 [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.338Z <Controller:INFO> ZWaveJSController#zwavejs loaded implementation data ver 23254 rev 1 format 1 [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.339Z <Structure:INFO> Starting controller SystemController#reactor_system [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.345Z <Controller:NOTICE> Controller SystemController#reactor_system is now online. [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.572Z <HassController:INFO> HassController#hass device mapping data loaded; checking... [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.574Z <HassController:WARN> HassController: implementation of capability battery_maintenance does not provide attribute state [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.577Z <HassController:WARN> HassController: implementation of capability input_select.selector does not provide attribute values [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.586Z <MQTTController:ERR> MQTTController#mqtt can't read/load templates from /home/reactor/Documents/reactor/config/mqtt_templates/owntracks_sensor.yaml: [Error] Function yaml.safeLoad is removed in js-yaml 4. Use yaml.load instead, which is now safe by default. [-] [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.595Z <MQTTController:CRIT> Error: Function yaml.safeLoad is removed in js-yaml 4. Use yaml.load instead, which is now safe by default. [-] Error: Function yaml.safeLoad is removed in js-yaml 4. Use yaml.load instead, which is now safe by default. at Object.safeLoad (/home/reactor/Documents/reactor/node_modules/js-yaml/index.js:10:11) at MQTTController._load_implementation (/home/reactor/Documents/reactor/ext/MQTTController/MQTTController.js:807:38) at async MQTTController.start (/home/reactor/Documents/reactor/ext/MQTTController/MQTTController.js:95:13) at async Promise.allSettled (index 3) [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.597Z <MQTTController:ERR> MQTTController#mqtt2 can't read/load templates from /home/reactor/Documents/reactor/config/mqtt_templates/owntracks_sensor.yaml: [Error] Function yaml.safeLoad is removed in js-yaml 4. Use yaml.load instead, which is now safe by default. [-] [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.603Z <MQTTController:CRIT> Error: Function yaml.safeLoad is removed in js-yaml 4. Use yaml.load instead, which is now safe by default. [-] Error: Function yaml.safeLoad is removed in js-yaml 4. Use yaml.load instead, which is now safe by default. at Object.safeLoad (/home/reactor/Documents/reactor/node_modules/js-yaml/index.js:10:11) at MQTTController._load_implementation (/home/reactor/Documents/reactor/ext/MQTTController/MQTTController.js:807:38) at async MQTTController.start (/home/reactor/Documents/reactor/ext/MQTTController/MQTTController.js:95:13) at async Promise.allSettled (index 4) [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.608Z <HassController:NOTICE> HassController#hass connecting to ws://192.168.1.198:8123/api/websocket [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.616Z <MQTTController:INFO> MQTTController#mqtt instance topic ident is mqtt [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.617Z <Controller:INFO> MQTTController#mqtt 0 dead entities older than 86400000s purged [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.619Z <MQTTController:NOTICE> MQTTController#mqtt connecting to broker at mqtt://192.168.1.198:1883/ [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.691Z <MQTTController:INFO> MQTTController#mqtt2 instance topic ident is mqtt2 [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.692Z <MQTTController:ERR> MQTTController#mqtt2 entity owntracks_iphone14p uses_template=owntracks_sensor, template not defined [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.697Z <MQTTController:ERR> MQTTController#mqtt2 entity owntracks_iphone8 uses_template=owntracks_sensor, template not defined [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.726Z <MQTTController:ERR> MQTTController#mqtt2 entity owntracks_iphone14jay uses_template=owntracks_sensor, template not defined [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.730Z <MQTTController:ERR> MQTTController#mqtt2 entity owntracks_iphone14jen uses_template=owntracks_sensor, template not defined [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.735Z <MQTTController:ERR> MQTTController#mqtt2 entity owntracks_iphone14addie uses_template=owntracks_sensor, template not defined [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.768Z <MQTTController:ERR> MQTTController#mqtt2 entity owntracks_iphone14bella uses_template=owntracks_sensor, template not defined [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.773Z <MQTTController:ERR> MQTTController#mqtt2 entity owntracks_androidaa uses_template=owntracks_sensor, template not defined [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.777Z <MQTTController:NOTICE> MQTTController#mqtt2 device owntracks_androidaa no longer available, marking BinarySensor#mqtt2>owntracks_androidaa for removal [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.781Z <MQTTController:NOTICE> MQTTController#mqtt2 device owntracks_iphone14addie no longer available, marking BinarySensor#mqtt2>owntracks_iphone14addie for removal [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.786Z <MQTTController:NOTICE> MQTTController#mqtt2 device owntracks_iphone14bella no longer available, marking BinarySensor#mqtt2>owntracks_iphone14bella for removal [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.790Z <MQTTController:NOTICE> MQTTController#mqtt2 device owntracks_iphone14jay no longer available, marking BinarySensor#mqtt2>owntracks_iphone14jay for removal [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.794Z <MQTTController:NOTICE> MQTTController#mqtt2 device owntracks_iphone14jen no longer available, marking BinarySensor#mqtt2>owntracks_iphone14jen for removal [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.798Z <MQTTController:NOTICE> MQTTController#mqtt2 device owntracks_iphone14p no longer available, marking BinarySensor#mqtt2>owntracks_iphone14p for removal [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.802Z <MQTTController:NOTICE> MQTTController#mqtt2 device owntracks_iphone8 no longer available, marking BinarySensor#mqtt2>owntracks_iphone8 for removal [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.807Z <Controller:INFO> MQTTController#mqtt2 0 dead entities older than 86400000s purged [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.808Z <MQTTController:NOTICE> MQTTController#mqtt2 connecting to broker at mqtts://7ef71f0117fe40d28c2df12205c4a0d0.s2.eu.hivemq.cloud:8883 [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.816Z <VirtualEntityController:INFO> VirtualEntityController#virtual configuring virtual Driving Flag - 2 (virt1) [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.826Z <VirtualEntityController:INFO> VirtualEntityController#virtual configuring virtual Far Away Flag - 2 (virt2) [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.827Z <VirtualEntityController:INFO> VirtualEntityController#virtual configuring virtual Garage Door Momentary Contact vSwitch (virt3) [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.828Z <Controller:INFO> VirtualEntityController#virtual 0 dead entities older than 86400000s purged [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.829Z <ZWaveJSController:INFO> ZWaveJSController#zwavejs connecting to ws://192.168.1.198:3000 [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.836Z <Controller:NOTICE> Controller VirtualEntityController#virtual is now online. [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.839Z <app:NOTICE> Starting HTTP server and API... [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.845Z <httpapi:NOTICE> httpapi: starting HTTP service on port 8111 [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.854Z <app:NOTICE> Starting Reaction Engine... [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.856Z <Engine:INFO> Reaction Engine starting [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.857Z <Engine:INFO> Checking rule sets... [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:40.880Z <Engine:INFO> Checking rules... [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:41.421Z <Engine:INFO> Data check complete; no corrections. [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:41.571Z <Rule:NOTICE> Driving Flag (rule-l97r2umw in Shared Rules) starting [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:41.572Z <Rule:NOTICE> Driving Flag - Far Away (rule-l97r814k in Shared Rules) starting [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:41.573Z <Rule:NOTICE> DST (rule-l118lzpd in Shared Rules) starting [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:41.573Z <Rule:NOTICE> HVAC Cooling Master (Local APIs) (rule-ktinsq18 in Shared Rules) starting [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:41.574Z <Rule:NOTICE> HVAC Heating before Alarm times (rule-l7hirm3d in Shared Rules) starting [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:41.574Z <Rule:NOTICE> HVAC Heating Master (Local APIs) (rule-ktio3vc1 in Shared Rules) starting [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:41.575Z <Rule:NOTICE> HVAC Neutral Master (rule-ktint8c3 in Shared Rules) starting [latest-24052]2024-02-22T01:04:41.575Z <Rule:NOTICE> It's Raining (rule-lfs6r1lq in Shared Rules) starting [latest-24I'm flummoxed.
I was using this method here by @therealdb to run Lua Code from MSR on my Vera Plus but it seems to have stopped working now.
Its the one where you uploaded a file called VeraScenes.lua to your Vera hub and then you could call functions of that file to run particular bits of Lua code from an MSR reaction etc.
This was working well for a long time but I noticed today its not working now.
Looking in the MSR log after I ran a reaction in one of my rules I just saw this:
[latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.650Z <Engine:INFO> Enqueueing "Front Cam Motion Detection ON or OFF Old Method<RESET>" (rule-klten9w9:R) [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.653Z <Engine:5:Engine.js:1466> [Engine]Engine#1 enqueued reaction rule-klten9w9:R as 22989 [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.654Z <Engine:5:Engine.js:1624> _process_reaction_queue() wake-up! [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.655Z <Engine:5:Engine.js:1563> _process_reaction_queue() running task 22989: [Object]{ "tid": 22989, "id": "rule-klten9w9:R", "rule": "rule-klten9w9", "__reaction": [RuleReaction#rule-klten9w9:R], "next_step": 0, "status": 0, "ts": 1708368095651, "parent": --null--, "__resolve": --function--, "__reject": --function--, "__promise": [object Promise] } [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.657Z <Engine:NOTICE> Starting reaction Front Cam Motion Detection ON or OFF Old Method<RESET> (rule-klten9w9:R) [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.659Z <Engine:5:Engine.js:1701> [Engine]Engine#1 reaction rule-klten9w9:R step 1 perform [Object]{ "entity": "vera>system", "action": "x_vera_sys.runlua", "args": { "lua": "VeraScenes.FrontCamMotionDetectionOff()" } } [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.660Z <Engine:5:Engine.js:1577> _process_reaction_queue() task returned, new status 3; task 22989, history 1629572 [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.663Z <Engine:5:Engine.js:1624> _process_reaction_queue ending with 1 in queue; none delayed/ready; waiting [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.671Z <VeraController:ERR> [VeraController:performOnEntity] action request failed [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.672Z <VeraController:CRIT> Error: Request failed: 401 Error [-] Error: Request failed: 401 Error at /home/stuart/reactor/server/lib/Controller.js:886:37 at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5) [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.673Z <Engine:ERR> [Engine]Engine#1 reaction rule-klten9w9:R step 1 perform x_vera_sys.runlua failed: [Error] Request failed: 401 Error [-] [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.673Z <Engine:INFO> [Engine]Engine#1 action args: [Object]{ "lua": "VeraScenes.FrontCamMotionDetectionOff()" } [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.674Z <Engine:5:Engine.js:1624> _process_reaction_queue() wake-up! [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.675Z <Engine:5:Engine.js:1563> _process_reaction_queue() running task 22989: [Object]{ "tid": 22989, "id": "rule-klten9w9:R", "rule": "rule-klten9w9", "__reaction": [RuleReaction#rule-klten9w9:R], "next_step": 2, "status": 1, "ts": 1708368095651, "parent": --null--, "__resolve": --function--, "__reject": --function--, "__promise": [object Promise], "attempts": 0, "history_id": 1629572 } [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.676Z <Engine:INFO> Resuming reaction Front Cam Motion Detection ON or OFF Old Method<RESET> (rule-klten9w9:R) from step 2 [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.678Z <Engine:5:Engine.js:1753> [Engine]Engine#1 reaction rule-klten9w9:R step 3 notify Telegram with [Object]{ "message": "Front Garden CAM Motion Detection Off", "profile": "default" } [latest-23338]2024-02-19T18:41:35.685Z <Engine:INFO> Front Cam Motion Detection ON or OFF Old Method<RESET> all actions completed. [Was anyone else using this method to have Lua code run on your Vera hub being called via an MSR reaction ? Does it still work for you?
Hello all, I am trying to create a timer in home assistant that will run for the amount of seconds left in the day. To do so, my plan is to create an expression in MSR where I subtract the seconds elapsed in the day from 86400. From there I will run a service command to start the timer for the seconds I calculated in the expression. I have tried using the time () function in MSR but cannot figure out a way to just get the time elapsed today and in seconds.
I really like these new widgets in MSR status page! Still, at least for the history-widgets, a filtering capability would be helpful. I have quite a many rules running with short intervals and they are clogging these lists making it harder to see "more interesting" ones...
Can file a request in Mantis, if there's wider support for the idea?
Hey Patrick, was wondering you could add the option to be able to disable each individual action. Often when I am testing new actions for my rules I have to copy the rule and then edit it, then once I am happy I have to copy the new actions back to the original rule. It also would be useful for situations when I need to disable certain actions for whatever reason, ie a device not working correctly. I know I can copy complete rules over and make whatever edits and then disable the old rule but it sometimes makes for a lot of different version of a rule that I am testing.
Good morning,
I'm running Home Assistant with MSR, and I do my automation strictly within MSR. I have some basic notifications set up, for instance, when my dishwasher has completed it's cycle, it'll send my iPhone a push notification via the x_haas.system.call_service --> notify.mobile_iphone action.
I saw in the Home Assistant documentation that you can push Actionable Notifications. The example they use if there is motion detection, but no one is home, you can sound an alarm or silence an alarm.
Can this be done from MSR and not directly in Home Assistant? I'd like to do something more of an acknowledgement, like if a door or window is left open, to have a way to get notified, but acknowledge that it is open, and not send any more notifications. If not acknowledged, the notification will continue every 5 or 10 minutes until the door or window is closed, or the notification is acknowledged. This would be useful in situations where I may have a slider door open for some fresh air, so it was deliberate, versus an entry door that didn't latch when entering or leaving the house.
Hi (fourth draft to simplify as I solve problems...)
My MSR is installed from the HASS add on store.
The Docker container did not have SSH client installed.
I was able to get SSH installed and setup keys on a remote worker server for password free SSH logins.
I now have a shell command that sends commands to the remote worker server. It renders content to a tidbyt LED matrix display.
Does anyone know if this will survive an update of the Reactor addon? Will the updated docker image wipe SSH and the private keys stored in the Reactor Docker Container?
Also - is it better to just move Reactor over to the worker server and manage my own updates?
I am using HAOS - Core-2024.1.2, Supervisor 2023.12.0, OS 11.3
I just installed the Reactor plugin for home assistant and tried to move my configuration by copying the reactor-data files to the same location in the home assistant files. Unfortunately this does not work.
I tried rebooting, restarting but the reactor in home assistant stays clean. I tried adding some rules, they do stick but I soo no difference in the reactor-files.
I guess I am missing something very obvious???
No idea what however.... So I would appreciate some pointers.
Warm regards
Hi guys,
I've recently bought a new Govee outdoor permanent lights set, and I love it. WAF is pretty high, and the product is good quality. I hope to never run lights in the front of the house.
This new addition has found me searching for something to control these lights, locally. Govee has officials remote and LAN APIs and Home Assistant has it supported, but some undocumented stuff that's integrated into an Homebridge plugin that seems very promising. Without this plugin, my playlist is orchestrated via the cloud and that makes zero sense.
In the past I got some inspiration from plugins running on other platforms and Homebridge seems one of the most active. I could map its devices via HomeKit-local on HA, but I've decommissioned Homebridge years ago when we settled to Alexa (and I want to stay simple), so I had an idea: why get inspiration and rewrite things, when you could write an Homebridge adapter that could load any Homebridge plugin and run them natively under Reactor (MSR)?
I'm not sure if that's viable or made any sense, so I'm posting here to get feedback, encouragement and your thoughts. Anyone could be potentially interested in such a thing?
Running MSR latest-23344-ca53d088 within a Docker.
My Hubitat (HE) hub suffered almost a 4 day outage from a corrupt backup that failed to restore. During this time I had my MSR docker stopped. Well, I didn't stop it until the the hub had been down for 24 hours. Anyway, I finally got the hub back online this morning and am fixing my MSR rules for everything that was lost. Support needed to purge out the Apps section of the backup.
So my issue. So far everything I have fixed is working as expected, with the exception of my motion controllers. I can see them go "Active" within my HE, but the Entity within MSR never changes from false to true. I ran through a slew of rooms that have motion sensors and only 1 out of 6 changed to true.
I removed the sensor I'm testing with from Maker API, restarted MSR, re-added it, restarted MSR, but no difference. I then Deleted it from MSR and restarted MSR. It was re-added, but again no change. How can I go about testing this further to find out why/what is going on?
Hi everyone and happy new year!
I've recently moved to an alarm integration that's using HASS MQTT format but I'm not pushing it to HASS as I've just mapped it as MSR entities.
security_mode capability has less options and I'm wondering what's the best way to map other statuses. Is adding my own values considered safe or should we ask for more default statuses? Paging @toggledbits here, because I'm not sure a new ticket on mantis at this point is preferred instead of a post.
Then, I'm just double checking what's everyone using regarding alarm panels.
I'm using string_sensor.value to save the zone that's been armed/disarmed and keypad to keep track of the code/users/actions
For the siren I'm just using a binary_sensor, with string_sensor in the same device to get the zone that's been triggered.
What are you guys doing? Thanks!
Home Assistant Yellow - 2023.12.3
Reactor Community Add-on
SSL/SFTP enabled on the HA Yellow
I'm trying to migrate from a Pi and MSR installed with docker compose to the community add-on inside HA.
I located all my rules etc in the pi at /home/pi/reactor/storage, but I cannot find where the addon created the storage folder/rules on the HA Yellow.
I've searched the homeassistant directory and everything in root also for these files using various methods including *.json and rule but I cannot locate them.
I've a lot of rules and expressions, so need to copy rather than recreate them as I cant just export/import from reactor. I also want to be sure I can take reactor backups when needed on the HA Yellow
I posted an issue in the add-on maintainers github but they seem to respond to nothing posted there.
Any tips appreciated.
I also tried to just install using docker-compose in HAOS instead, but kept hitting the "Error response from daemon: error while creating mount source path '/home/': mkdir /home/reactordocker: read-only file system" error no matter what permissions were assigned to a folder or where I created it. I think perhaps because somethings containerised in that OS
@toggledbits Any reasons that might escape me why there are battery_maintenance attributes for the Zooz (ZEN04), Aeotec (ZWA023) and Dome (DMOF1) smart plugs (and probably other smart plugs)?
Again, not sure if this is related to Reactor/ZwaveJSController implementation or the actual Z-Wave JS UI docker version. I have copied, below, the attributes in question in hopes it can help.
Thanks in advance.
Reactor: 23344
ZWaveJSController: 9.6.0.ec8995c
zwave-js: 12.4.1
home id: 3589098709
home hex: 0xd5ed4cd5
PS I could copy all attributes but there are too many to be listed in this thread.
battery_maintenance.charging=null battery_maintenance.rechargeable=false battery_maintenance.replace=false battery_maintenance.state=nullIf you are thinking about upgrading your Hubitat Elevation hub from 2.3.6 to 2.3.7, and you are using MSR.... wait! I was trying to resolve a different issue with the HE and didn't even think twice about how MSR would react. Well... MSR was not happy and was complaining that the events feed had become unresponsive. And my automations were not working either. I have since reverted back to 2.3.6 and will happily wait for @toggledbits to do his magic.
Direct question-
is there anything obvious wrong with my configuration below since the ZEN32 scene controller really has no on/off state (for btn 1-4), and I am using it as a toggle without concern for long press or multi press - am I better off just looking for any change to x_hass.state in a rule condition to trap a toggle?Detailed Use case -
A-Use ZEN32 scene controller to group and control sonos players
B-Keep ZEN32 lights sync'd with real world sonos states. [B is alread working in my implementation by controlling the always on/always off led parms on the ZEN32]
Reactor - latest-23063-c464b68
hass - 2023.12.3 core / 2023.12.0 Supervisor
Zwave JS UI - 9.3.2
prior reading:
Using Zooz ZEN32 Scene Controller as Trigger
Adding remotes, scene controllers as entities to MSR
MSR Manual - Handling Home Assistant Events
**Current ZEN32 zwave description to MSR - reactor.yaml **
event_targets: "event.sonos_scene_controller_scene_001": name: "ZEN32 Button 1" capabilities: - button events: - event: event_type: zwave_js_value_notification data: node_id: 008 # Put your ZWaveJS node ID here property: scene property_key: "001" # 001=button 1, 002=button 2, etc. response: button.since: from: event.context.id button.state: from: event.data.value map: KeyHeldDown: hold KeyPressed: single KeyPressed2x: double KeyPressed3x: triple KeyReleased: release "event.sonos_scene_controller_scene_002": name: "ZEN32 Button 2" capabilities: - button events: - event: event_type: zwave_js_value_notification data: node_id: 008 # Put your ZWaveJS node ID here property: scene property_key: "002" # 001=button 1, 002=button 2, etc. response: button.since: from: event.context.id button.state: from: event.data.value map: KeyHeldDown: hold KeyPressed: single KeyPressed2x: double KeyPressed3x: triple KeyReleased: release # # dump_all_states - This is for troubleshooting. Do not enable unless asked. #dump_all_states: falseFindings-
-The Hass logbook is seeing the events - also seen in the screenshot below
Area of interest:
Is my cannonical names correct in the Reactor.YAML code above - I took it from the Reactor entity dialog screenshoted below i.e. event.sonos_scene_controller_scene_001Hi - hoping someone can share the url syntax to force MSR to run a specific set or reset action of a Rule.
Use case=
-use MSR actions to set a scene
-fire the reaction from a homebridge system on same LAN to manage voice commands
I have done this in Vera, can't find the correct syntax for MSR.
The command I tried from research is:
I received "Not Found" using chrome No log entry - so I must be off on the URL.
Reactor = latest-23063-c464b685
MSR and Hass run on same ip addr
Reactor port =8111
HASS port=8123 (I tried this too)
screen shot attached
I am ~6hrs into a Vera to HA migration. Lots to learn - and I will never make 5 steps to hit a light switch..
This example is exploratory - not the end workflow I am looking for. This is not a logic concern, the issue is I may not be reading attributes on entities correctly.
End Goal -
Dim/control on lights based on alarm states
HA running in Virtualbox
MSR running as Addon in HA
Alarm connected to Envisalink EVL 3 card in a DSC alarm panel
Functionality that works
I can arm/disarm the house from the HA dash
I can read attribute status in entity viewer attribute pull down
I have working rule sets for other devices (lutron) on network
As I "Arm" the house using a button on the HA Dashboard, I see attributes update in realtime.
In MSR, the attributes are not updating. In the MSR entity viewr, I can see updates were observed much earlier in the day.
I fear I cannot articulate the issue as I am so new to HA. I used Reactor in Vera, but very new to MSR and HA. The attached screenshot will show the side by side dialogs that are not staying in sync.
Thanks in advance for any insight.
HA-MSR Screeshot.JPG
Z Wave JS - Not Connecting
Hey @toggledbits , was trying to setup ZwaveJS controller to connect to my Z Wave JS add-on running on HA. Here's the config I have set in
:- id: zwavejs enabled: true implementation: ZWaveJSController name: ZWaveJS config: source: 'ws://192.168.8.85:3000'
I have enabled websocket in the HA add-on, but I am not able to connect. I see this in the reactor log:
[latest-23196]2023-07-23T22:54:39.881Z <ZWaveJSController:INFO> ZWaveJSController#zwavejs connecting to ws://192.168.8.85:3000 [latest-23196]2023-07-23T22:54:39.888Z <ZWaveJSController:WARN> ZWaveJSController#zwavejs websocket error during open/negotation: [Error] connect ECONNREFUSED 192.168.8.85:3000 [-] [latest-23196]2023-07-23T22:54:39.888Z <ZWaveJSController:WARN> ZWaveJSController#zwavejs ws error code ECONNREFUSED [latest-23196]2023-07-23T22:54:39.889Z <ZWaveJSController:NOTICE> ZWaveJSController#zwavejs websocket to ws://192.168.8.85:3000 closed during open/negotiation [latest-23196]2023-07-23T22:54:39.890Z <ZWaveJSController:NOTICE> ZWaveJSController#zwavejs connection to ws://192.168.8.85:3000 failed; will retry [latest-23196]2023-07-23T22:54:39.891Z <ZWaveJSController:INFO> ZWaveJSController#zwavejs retry 3 delay 10000
Multiple restarts of HA, MSR and the add-on have made no changes. I am running V1.15.1 Z Wave JS UI, HA version 2023.07.1, MSR version latest-23196-40ef07f4 and ZWaveJS controller 23194.
Connection refused would be the server on which the ZWaveJS controller is trying to be contacted is responding 'No'
So I'd be triple checking the IP and the port config. Basic test from a command line"
telnet. 192.168.8.85 3000
Will at least tell you if the server is up and listening on the portC
Ha got it working, didn't know that I had to expose port 3000 in the add on configuration. @toggledbits maybe this could be added into the docs?
Perhaps. I don't use the ZWaveJS add-on, so you'd need to post a good bit more detail in order for me to be able to write anything useful about it, though.
@toggledbits got it. So basically if you navigate to Settings -> Add-Ons -> Z Wave JS UI and on the top where it says Info, Documentation, Configuration, and Logs click Configuration. Then under Network section turn the toggle on to show unused ports (not sure if that is the correct verbiage) then add port 3000 and hit save. Once the add-on restarts it should work.


text:
Talks between the United States and Israel over the possibility of a second ban on construction for Jews living east of the 1949 armistice line have failed. On Tuesday night, politicians from both countries will publicly admit that the freeze deal will not work, according to Channel 2 news.
Israel banned Jews in Judea, Samaria and much of Jerusalem from building any new structures, or additions to existing homes, for 10 months in an attempt to bring the Palestinian Authority to the negotiating table.
PA leaders ignored the gesture for several months, then began talks as the construction freeze drew to a close – and demanded that the freeze continue. When construction resumed – solely within the city limits of existing Israeli towns - they left talks and have not returned.
The U.S. pushed Israel to give in to PA demands for another freeze. Initial reports suggested that the U.S. would intervene to make a second, even stricter freeze worth Israel's while, by offering a promise that there would be no pressure for a third freeze, and giving Israel several warplanes.
Later reports clarified that the U.S. was not willing to offer any of the commitments that had been suggested. One diplomat accused U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. President Barack Obama of pulling a "bait and switch" on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, with Clinton making promises but then rescinding them after talks of a second freeze went public, citing Obama's disapproval.
While freeze talks continued between Israel and the U.S., the PA found itself off the hook, with little pressure to return to the negotiating table. Israeli journalist Uri Elitzur had previous suggested that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas had planned all along for talks to break down, and was hoping not for a negotiated settlement, but rather, for international agreement on the borders of a PA state.
If that was Abbas' plan, he saw some success this week, as Argentina and Brazil said they would recognize a PA state on all the land east of the 1949 armistice line. The territory in question is home to approximately 500,000 Jews, along with up to 1.5 million Arabs, and includes historically Jewish towns as well as the Temple Mount, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, and Rachel's Tomb, Judaism's first, second, and third most holy sites respectively.


text:
Reality TV star Michael Lohan has already challenged his former wife over her claims he was violent towards her and now he's livid about her latest TV appearance, in which Dina opened up further about the abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her ex.
She told U.S. news show Entertainment Tonight, "I was physically abused, locked in closets… I have police reports, I have hospital records, I have pictures of the black eyes."
But Michael fires back, "It's one lie after another; it just doesn't stop… Locked in closets? Please. I don't know why she comes up with these things."
Michael has also taken aim at his ex-wife over claims she made during a recent Dr. Phil TV chat, when she claimed he threw a Bible at her head on their honeymoon.
He says, "I don't remember that, and if I did throw a Bible at her she should have picked it up and read it."
Michael insists he only struck his wife once during their troubled marriage – after she hit him with an ice tray: "She went into the freezer and she took out an ice tray and she whacked with it and I turned around… and I slapped her. That's the only time ever."
And as for the police reports and hospital records, he states, "That's from the one incident."


text:
Federal park officials are supporting a bill by Congressmember Grace Meng that would make historic Flushing sites part of the National Park Service, the legislator said.
The measure would require the Secretary of the Interior, who oversees federal parkland, to look into whether sites connected to the Flushing Remonstrance could be included in the national park system.
The Remonstrance, a historic 1657 petition, was signed by Peter Stuyvesant and 30 citizens to protest a policy that banned Quakers from practicing their religion in the colony of New Netherland.
Other sites mentioned in the bill are Flushing's John Bowne House, where the Quakers held meetings, and the Old Quaker Meetinghouse, which was built in 1694 by Bowne and other Quakers.
"The story of the Flushing Remonstrance is not for New Yorkers alone," Meng said. "It was an early struggle to establish the fundamental right to practice one's religion."
National Park Service Associate Director Victor Knox said the Department of the Interior supports the bill during a recent hearing held in Washington, according to Meng.


text:
Tom Peterson, composer & co-founder of Inspirare Nova
Music lovers, rejoice! A new choir has recently emerged on the Valley art scene: Inspirare Nova. The sixteen-voice choir is "dedicated to creating original choral works and presenting them in a visually engaging concert format. " Co-Founding member and composer Tom Peterson, shares a few thoughts with K-Bach's Jane Hilton.
There are a number of choral groups in the Valley that present new work from time to time. What sets Inspirare Nova apart?
Choirs have been better than most musical ensembles at embracing newly-composed music, but we will build entire concerts around the large works we commission. Other music is then programmed as a way to put the new work in context. For example, The Chapels of Westminster Abbey, a twenty-minute suite, is preceded by works written by composers who were themselves choirmasters at the Abbey.
Our visual and dramatic presentation will also set us apart. Our Executive Director, Rick Ashcroft, has a long history in musical theatre and opera performance and direction, so future projects may include instrumentalists, costumes, or dancers.
Where are the Sixteen voices from? Was this a handpicked, invitation only "curated" ensemble, or was there a formal audition process?
We invited professional-level folks from Phoenix's wide and deep talent pool. In addition to being fine singers, many are conductors and composers themselves. One piece on the concert was written for us by one of our sopranos, Kira Rugen, who is also the director of her own group, Solis Camerata.
What do you hope the choir will have accomplished one year from now? Five years from now?
One year from now? Survive. We hope to build an audience and a supportive community, but getting a group like this off the ground is challenging.
And five years? We feel the sky is the limit. And not just in terms of getting the biggest names to compose or conduct, but in terms of developing as creatively as we can. We will have collaborated with artists in other media and genres. We will have produced our own recordings. We will have brought together an audience in Phoenix excited about hearing what composers are writing right now.
I understand that you are a recent graduate of the Royal College of Music. Did your time in London directly inspire your new work, The Chapels of Westminster Abbey, the work feature on the inaugural concerts, May 16 & 17?
Absolutely. Westminster Abbey is an awe-inspiring place: architectural marvel, burial place of monarchs and poets, site of coronations, weddings, and memorials. While living in London I was very fortunate to get to know Graeme Napier, then a Minor Canon at the Abbey. Together, we plotted out the arc of the piece, which takes the listener on a kind of musical tour through seven of the Abbey's chapels. He selected specific texts, commissioned a beautiful new poem from Christiania Whitehead (a poet and scholar of medieval history), and I tried to do those texts justice in music.
One example of how the piece is woven together: the medieval craftsmen who built the incredible fan-vaulted ceiling of the Lady Chapel did so as an Earth-bound metaphor for the heavens that God had set in the sky. So Graeme chose this text from the 1549 prayerbook:
I will consider thy heavens, even the works of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained.
Here, God is the craftsman of a fan-vaulted cosmos. But why the specific 1549 version? Because it was published during the reign of Edward VI, who is buried in the Lady Chapel.
You are a versatile composer, Tom, but it's obvious, looking through your history of works, that you have a penchant for the human voice. Why?
Truthfully, I'm not sure. Perhaps because the voice is such a direct, pure form of musical expression. An instrument to be mastered, surely, but without strings or reeds or valves.
Or perhaps because literary works are so often the kindling for my musical ideas. Text — or for that matter, any idea or image — can form for composers and listeners alike a pathway into unlikely sounds, music that they might otherwise dismiss as unusual. I still believe that complex, layered music can be deeply meaningful and rewarding — perhaps even moreso now in the internet age of immediacy — and I hope that the text that inspired me to write a work keeps others listening.
In the future, will Inspirare Nova seek to also collaborate with contemporary composers outside of our region?
Yes, and conductors and possibly soloists as well. It's a balance between bringing wonderful music to the Valley and utilizing the potential we already have. We want to be a place for creativity to bloom in our own community, and we want to reflect that in our programming. Our fall concert will likely be a showcase of Phoenix-area composers.
Inspirare Nova's inaugural concerts,The Chapels of Westminster Abbey, will be held 7:30pm, May 16 & 17, 2014. at Christ Church of the Ascension in Paradise Valley. For more details, visit www.inspirarenova.org.


text:
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text:
This author of this beautiful passage is not known, we didn't create it but we're just reproducing it here.
Please feel free to share it to as many of your friends and acquaintances as you like . . .
A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?" "Because I'm a woman", she told him. "I don't understand", he said. His mum just hugged him and said, "And you never will".
Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?" "All women cry for no reason" was all his dad could say.
The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry.
Finally he put in a call to God; when God got on the phone, the man said, "God, why women cry so easily?"
God said, "When I made women she had to be special. I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world; yet, gentle enough to give comfort.
I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times come from her children.
I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.
I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt them very badly.
This same sensitivity helps her make a child's boo hoo feel better and shares in their teenagers' anxieties and fears.
I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.
I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.
And finally I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed. The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides."
Every woman is beautiful.


text:
I recently read an article which stated that every 3.6 seconds, someone in the world dies of hunger, that's about 10 million people per year ("Investing in a food secure future" by Howard G. Buffett, AgriMarketing Magazine). In 2050, the world's population will be over 9 billion. If agriculture production does not increase, more people will die of hunger every second than the current rate.
I grew up in a home that values life. So, when I hear statistics like these, my heart feels a little tug deep within: a tug to help those who are hungry. Even more, my family farms, which has instilled in me a hard work ethic, passion for agriculture and a love for people.
"With that past, I know agriculture is the key to feeding that hunger, to sustain life. I want to be a key player in increasing food, feed, fuel and fiber through production while protecting our environment around us.
That in mind, I know the future of agriculture is full of potential. And my dream is to bring sustainability to those suffering around the globe. Personally, I have sought to be involved in the media side of agriculture, so that I might keep up with what is going on, increase my knowledge and understanding of different areas of agriculture.
Since I began expanding my horizons in agriculture during college through Ag Ambassadors and Agriculture Future of America, I have had a growing passion for those starving around the world, especially people in Africa.
When asked what the future of agriculture holds for me, it is a lifestyle to bring sustainable agriculture to those in need. I have a dream to go to Africa and share with those in that country the very knowledge, understanding and resources I have grown up knowing and learning. I desire to do this so that families there may experience a life without hunger or suffering because of a lack of sustainable agriculture.
Africa is my dream place to make a difference, but the real difference is made by others who desire to do the very same all around the world. There are many statistics, but humans themselves are able to change those statistics. I desire to share my passions with others so that they might also invest their time and knowledge into helping others grow a sustainable lifestyle.
It may seem very idealistic, but successful results begin with ideas. My future is working to sustain and preserve life. No matter what road I take, in the end I will influence lives around me.
My dream is to one day positively influence the lives of those in Africa, but it starts here and now with the messages I share and understanding I gain. My dream is to help the dreams of the hungry come true. And until I have the resources to go there, my current place along the road is to influence those around me. And the only way I know how to do that is to be actively involved in that which sustains and preserves life: agriculture. Agriculture changes a hungry world.
- Shawna Aakre


text:
The duo also confirmed in the letter that they are close to completing their first signing of the January transfer window.
Allardyce is the only manager of a side currently in the bottom five of the Barclays Premier League who was in charge at the start of the season and, following this weekend's 5-0 FA Cup thrashing at the hands of Nottingham Forest, there has been speculation the 59-year-old may be the next boss out of work.
The one bright area for West Ham has been the Capital One Cup, in which they beat rivals Tottenham in the last round to set up a semi-final meeting with Manchester City, the first leg of which takes place at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Sullivan and Gold have backed Allardyce to move the club up from 19th place in the table and, with the support of vice-chairman Karren Brady, they will also use their own experiences to overcome West Ham's current plight.
"We know Sam has not lost his ambition or desire and is committed to making West Ham United a great Premier League club," the open letter read.
"Sam has been handed a near impossible task of coming through three crucial games in the space of six days with a squad of only 14 fit and available senior players.
"We have experienced difficult times before and we know what will get us results - hard work, determination and perseverance.
"To that end, we are all working round the clock to do everything in our powers to help arrest our slump in form."
It is the seemingly ever-growing injury list at West Ham that has been highlighted as the main reason for the club's poor run, which has seen them fail to win a league game since November 30.
Andy Carroll has yet to feature this season while James Tomkins, Winston Reid, James Collins, Mark Noble and Ricardo Vaz Te are also injured and captain Kevin Nolan is currently banned.
Sullivan and Gold revealed in their letter that they are close to providing Allardyce with more players and believe once their current crop of crocked talent start returning to action things will get easier for the Hammers.
"Our first priority is to get our key players fit," the letter continued.
"Our record signing Andy Carroll continues to make good progress following his return to first-team training and he should be back on the pitch very soon...Trust us, Andy Carroll is desperate to play and is ready to do his bit for the team and we are confident that the return of all of our injured players will lead to an upturn in our fortunes.
"Thereafter, our second priority is to bring in the new talent needed to bolster our squad in the most needed areas.
"January is not an easy time to do business but we are pleased to confirm we are close to securing one of our key striking targets. A defender is high on the list of priorities as well and progress is being made on that front."
Everton defender Johnny Heitinga rejected a move to Upton Park last week and Allardyce has conceded attracting players to compete in a relegation battle may prove 'impossible' but, with talent such as Monaco forward Lacina Traore reportedly closing in on a loan move, any business will be welcomed by everyone involved with West Ham.
Allardyce, meanwhile, has warned that there will be no reinforcements at the back before the daunting trip to free-scoring City.
Tomkins, Reid and Collins leave a sizeable gap in the heart of defence and it looks set to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
"First-team players were rested (against Forest) to play Wednesday, the last thing I wanted to do was have players going in to the semi-final fatigued or not as fresh as City, who have a much bigger, more talented squad," he said.
"We planned to get as many fit for Wednesday and Saturday as possible but I don't think by Wednesday we'll have any defenders fit certainly. By Saturday we might.
"All of our defenders in central areas are missing and until they are back fit again and stay fit it puts us in a very, very difficult situation."
In a bid to keep his first-choice players fit for the challenges ahead Allardyce effectively sacrificed the FA Cup tie, fielding a total of five debutants and three more players with fewer than 10 first-team outings between them.
It was a controversial decision, with the rout increasing dark clouds around the club as well as potentially scarring the rookies.
As for the latter charge, Allardyce feels it may have a positive effect in the long run.
"They've got to find out what level they have to be at as young professionals," he said.
"They have to find out how string they have to be, not just physically but in mental terms to play at this level. This was not an easy game for them but it was a fantastic opportunity for them to realise.
"They all probably thought they were better than they are. They probably thought 'I've got my chance to show what I can do' and in the end they got over-run.
"To be fair, there were too many of them on the field. I would have liked to play three or four but that wasn't the case with a massive Capital One Cup semi-final coming up."